80 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



CHAP. V. 



The Proceedings and Debates in Parliament, either retrospective or pre 

 spective — The prospective arranged into general Heads. — The House 

 (jf Commons in a Committee of Ways and Means. — The Budget. — The 

 Irish Budget. — Proceedings of the House of Commons on the Fourth 

 Report of the Conunittee of Puhlic Expenditure : tvhich related to the 

 Misconduct of the Commissioners appointed for the Disposal of Dutch 

 Captured Property. — Resolutions on the Subject of Finance moved by 

 Mr. Vansittart — Agreed to. — Abuses brought to light by the Tenth 

 Report of the Commissioners of Naval Revision — Resolutions moved 

 thereon in the House of Commons, by Sir C. Pole — Negatived.— 

 Reports of the Commissioners of Military Inquiry — Enormous Abuses 

 ana Frauds. 



THE campaign in Spain was 

 brought into discussion, yet 

 farther, in both houses, whether 

 in the regular form of motions, or 

 on a variety of incidental occa- 

 sions. In the house of lords, Fe- 

 bruary the 7th, the Earl of Gros- 

 venor moved, that the house should 

 resolve itself into a committee of 

 the whole house, to take into con- 

 sideration the state of the nation ; 

 in doing which, the principal ob- 

 ject he had in view, was the cam- 

 paign in Spain, on which he pro- 

 ceeded to make his observations : 

 contending that it ought by all 

 means to be made a subject of 

 parliamentary inquiry. On the 

 27th of March, to assist the house 

 in deciding upon the measures 

 adopted during the campaigns in 

 Spain and Portugal. 



The Earl of Rosslyn moved, 

 " That a copy of all instructions 

 and communications, which had 

 passed between the three secreta- 

 ries of state, and any of the mi- 

 nisters in Spain and Portugal, re- 

 specting the arrangement of mili- 

 tary measures, and every provision 

 for carrying them into effect, be 



laid before the house ;" which mo- 

 tion, it is superfluous to say, was 

 negatived. Fresh discussion took 

 place on these and other oc- 

 casions. The subject was indeed 

 of vast magnitude, ^nd of an 

 importance paramount to every 

 other. But it is more than time 

 to go on from the retrospective 

 considerations and views of par- 

 liament, with regard to our foreign 

 relations prospective ; between 

 which, however, there is a natural 

 or intimate connection. Among 

 the prospective proceedings of 

 parliament are such as relate to 

 finance, the grand spring of go- 

 vernment ; to external defence 

 and internal tranquillity ; and to 

 national improvements, civil and 

 political, economical and moral. 

 Following this order, we begin 

 with finance. 



House of Commons, May the 

 12th. The house having resolved 

 itself into a committee of ways and 

 means, the Chancellor of the Ex- 

 chequer rose, pursuant to notice, 

 to submit to the committee a 

 statement of the ways and means 

 of the year. The committee, he 



said, 



